Since January 2023, Taiwan's exports of electric bicycles have experienced a sustained and significant decline. Against this background, the market is showing signs of saturation and suppliers have to face a market environment with weak purchasing power. Throughout 2023, Taiwan's electric bicycle exports have declined month by month, from 102,575 units in January to 37,597 units in December. Entering the first quarter of 2024, although the export market is gradually stabilizing, export volume still remains at a relatively low level.
After peaking at over 1 million in 2022, Taiwan's total e-bike exports in 2023 fell almost to 2019 levels, totaling 686,556 units, or about 57,000 units per month on average. In the first three months of 2024, Taiwan exported just over 30,000 e-bikes. Most of these exports (50-60%) were destined for the EU market.
Although e-bike exports to the EU rose in the first quarter of 2024, it is worth noting that the total export volume was only 57,366 units, which is actually the lowest export volume in the first quarter of the EU market since 2018. In the European market, the Netherlands, Germany and the United Kingdom (the latter is not included in the EU total export volume) remain the main export destinations. This phenomenon indicates that the total export volume in 2024 is expected to be much lower than the "pre-epidemic baseline figure" in 2019 as high inventory continues to affect market conditions in these countries.
Taiwan's e-bike exports to the United States have experienced significant ups and downs. The growth has been strong, from 58,417 units in 2018 to a peak of 271,769 units in 2021. However, this growth was only a short-lived boom.
Although the United States once became Taiwan's main destination for electric bicycle exports in January 2024, these export data did not send many positive signals. Of particular note is the fact that exports in the first quarter of 2024 were only 23,000 units, the lowest level since the first quarter of 2019. Although exports showed a growing trend in the first quarter of 2024, export data to the United States in April 2024 showed that there were no signs of short-term improvement in the second quarter.
In terms of export value, the performance in 2023 remains strong, reaching NT$37 billion (approximately EUR 1.1 billion), which is much higher than the 2019 baseline and even matches the export value of 2021. However, the data for the first quarter of 2024 shows a worrying trend. The export value for the quarter was only EUR 170 million, the lowest since the first quarter of 2019, which indicates that more low-end and mid-range e-bikes are entering the market from Taiwan. Further observation shows that the average export price per e-bike also shows a downward trend, from EUR 1,950 in the fourth quarter of 2023 to EUR 1,704 in the first quarter of 2024.
